


Hannibal Meta

by sunkelles



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Meta Essays, Nonfiction, me fighting off the tumblr purge and preserving my meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 08:31:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: a few bits of hannibal meta. the first is about abigail's characterization, the second on the social implications for the lgbt+ rights movement of the murder husbands, the third is on the subversion of traditional character development, and the fourth is on tobias budge





	Hannibal Meta

meta 1

 

abigail hobbs is an interesting character, but one who is never portrayed as having a whole lot of agency (purposefully. there’s a reason that they chose an actress that looks like a deer. there’s a reason that she and her father are consistently shown with deer. it’s a very distinct visual) she starts out as her father’s pawn, and then she’s thrown into state psychiatric care, and alana consistently is shown to care about her but not trust her. (because when abigail is given agency, she uses it to manipulate) 

the first real choices she makes in the narrative (returning to her home and then killing nicholas boyle on impulse) push her even further down the no agency path, having hannibal hide the body she put there and then her basically entering into a willing contract with the devil. she might not have known it when she killed him, or even when she hid the body, but by the end of the episode she knows definitively who she has entered this contract with: the copycat killer.

she consistently avoids contact with will (which i can’t blame her for, considering will fixates on her because of how long he was in her father’s head (the father who loved her deeply but in the most fucked up possible way) and then will goes on to become whatever tf it is will becomes by the end of s3) but it is mainly because will killed her father, and she more consistently finds herself drawn to hannibal, who she identifies as the safer option, because he sees the bad things that she has done and he manipulates her with affection while also using his relationship with her to manipulate will. 

i don’t remember how abigail was removed from the equation at the end of season 1 (did hannibal “kill” her? i guess i’ll see soon enough) but then when she comes back at the end of s2, her lack of agency in the narrative is even more defined. her role as the manipulated “daughter” (which she is consistently through the show) intensifies, because she was meant to be will’s prize for seeing the light and coming to be with hannibal. but once hannibal realizes that will has not seen the light and he is not going to be with him, hannibal disposes of abigail, because abigail was always someone to manipulate for him. now that will has lost his right to her as a prize and she isn’t useful to him anymore, he tosses her aside completely. 

i would probably be more irritated by a female character being tossed around by the narrative and male characters if the actress weren’t so good? and then of course because so many of the other lady characters are so interesting. 

 

meta 2 

 

okay so hannibal and will are arrested for their latest string of murders. between the pair, there are at least 20 murders pinned on them since the last time hannibal was arrested. they are obviously guilty, not shy about it, and also not shy about the fact that they’re in a relationship. they even claim to have gotten hitched. 

can you imagine the social implications for the gay rights movement in universe? like, pictures of the “murder husbands” circulating in every paper in the country. homophobes in high positions implying that somehow hannibal lecter represents the entire lgbt community. somehow, they become the highest profile gay couple in the world.

lgbt actors and celebrities pushing for greater coverage of average, every day lgbt people in tv and movies, trying to push back against the right’s push to make hannibal lecter and will graham’s crimes the focus of their anti lgbt agenda.

have i ever mentioned i’m really grateful that hannibal is fictional? because even thinking about the possible implications of this is making me sick. 

 

meta 3

 

i’ve read a lot about the subversion of character development expectations in hannibal, and i think that’s one of my favorite topics ever. will isn’t a good person at the beginning of hannibal, but he isn’t a bad person either. he’s neutral, doing no good and no bad. he’s just sort of there, existing with his job and his dogs. 

according to the Laws of Traditional Character Development, will is supposed to bond with the people around him and become a better person…. and that’s what i expected going into the first season. i thought that he and the rest of the the Good characters were going to bond together and ward off the evil and yada yada yada yada 

but that isn’t what happens at all. will is a changeable person by nature, and i think that it COULD have happened, but the only character that took a big enough interest in will and his development to influence it significantly… was hannibal. alana cares about him, but pushes him away. jack cares too, but pushes him further and further down the rabbit hole. beverly is interested, but never given enough screen time to develop anything. (still salty about beverly) 

and that, well, that leaves hannibal to pull the strings and influence the outcome, and hannibal’s desired outcome doesn’t look a thing like Traditional Character Development, but it’s exactly what the story needed. 

 

meta 4

 

This is probably a weird thing to like, but I really appreciate Tobias budge from Hannibal.

The cultured, charming serial killer is a role normally reserved for white men, Hannibal Lecter himself, of course, being a notable example. I think that there are like, a thousand problems with that archetype, but one of the biggest ones is the race element. Black and other poc criminals are generally portrayed as “thugs” while white crime is romanticized, but Tobias is a cultured serial killer who rivals Hannibal himself.

He’s a smart, charming Black man in a role normally reserved for white men. If we’re going to keep romanticizing serial killers at least we get to add some color and amazing acting to the line up.


End file.
